Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Hitching up the Etchells and her sailboat trailer

Chuck stands by the trailer, which is just about ready to haul Black Magic up the ramp and into the mast-up storage lot. Note the cross-brace jack wrench perched on top of the third/launch wheel, which is out of the way in its storage position on the trailer.

Detail of trailer beams.

"Husker" stands by as final details of hitching the trailer to the truck are completed.

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We used pictures and measurements of another Etchells trailer as a starting point, then talked with friends and figured in all of our dislikes and likes about different trailers, then worked on our design with a local trailer manufacturer, AccuTrak of Los Lunas/Belen, NM, USA. The trailer manufacturer didn't have the sailboat-specific expertise to build the complete trailer, so we had them build the basic trailer.

Then we worked with a sailing friend who was a welder to add the supports, jack stands, pads, ladders, keel stop, etc., to turn it into a really sweet Etchells trailer. Carol Anne and Gerald had lots of fun learning to do some of the welding.

Previous postings in this blog have more pictures and more of the history of the trailer. We also have more pictures and information available that could be sent if we had the contact info of anyone who might be interested.